The assembly of fruit baskets and gift baskets must of necessity be a manually performed operation, which is one demanding considerably manual dexterity on the part of the assembler, and also, one which is time consuming and physically tiring.
One common manner of assembling such fruit or gift baskets is to place a central core of crumpled paper in the center of the basket, or in the alternative employ a paperboard tube as the central core.
For higher quality fruit baskets a relatively large fruit can be employed as the starter for the core, the relatively large fruit being progressively topped with another relatively large fruit as assembly of the fruit basket proceeds.
However, in each instance and due to the generally spheroidal form of the fruits, resort must be had to progressively securing the fruits in position by the use of transparent adhesive tape as the column develops in height.
Taping of the fruits to secure them against displacement as the assembly of the column proceeds is a matter demanding considerable dexterity on the part assembler, who is required to hold each particular fruit in sequence and in a selected orientation by the use of one hand, and then, employ the other hand to effect the taping of the fruit to hold it in that selected position of orientation.
Further, the tapes must be securely applied to the fruits, and preferred secured to the core if collapse of a partially assembled column of fruit is to be avoided. This readily can happen due to the practice of waxing or oiling fruits to enhance their physical appearance, which in turn provides a surface on the fruits which is antagonistic to adhesives.
Knowing of these problems, experienced assemblers invariably will incorporate into the column, usually on the obverse side thereof, and elongate structural support, such as an elongate package, box or tin of biscuits, candies, chocolates and the like, the elongate support providing stability during the assembly of the column, and also, providing a firm surface for attachment of the adhesive retaining tape.
Similar or identical considerations apply in the assembly of gift baskets, which invariably include a collocation of unrelated items of different forms shapes and textures or materials.
During the assembly of the column, the assembler also is required to insert between the adjacent fruits or packages either tissues or shredded paper or plastics material in order to obscure from external view the inner construction of the column, this operation additionally requiring manual dexterity in the presence of adhesively coated tape.